RUSSELL ANDERSON believes Aberdeen can still salvage their Europa League ambitions, but knows they will need to show Real Sociedad a whole new side to their game at Pittodrie.

Anderson believes Aberdeen can still salvage their Europa League ambitions[PAUL REID]

The experienced defender is well aware the Dons were outclassed by the Spaniards as they fell 2-0 in Thursday’s first-leg defeat in the Anoeto Stadium.

Aberdeen played reasonably well defensively but hardly laid a finger on Sociedad going forward even though fast, attacking play was the bedrock of their success last season.

Anderson said: “We were disciplined in the defensive side of our game, which we had to be, but the disappointing thing was that we didn’t retain possession and didn’t get up the field and at them.

“That is something we will need to address. They are a very good team. They played Champions League last season and that speaks for itself. They will be one of the better teams in this competition.”

The veteran knows his team need to get at the La Liga outfit and believes with the help of the Red Army this tie could be turned around.

“We are quietly confident,” said Anderson. “We are not going to shoot our mouths off, we never do.

“It would be disrespectful and a bit stupid to say we will get through to the next round.

“We will pick the bones out of it and hopefully we can yet capitalise on some things next week.

the disappointing thing was that we didn’t retain possession and didn’t get up the field and at them

Russell Anderson

“We will learn from this match and we are still in the tie.

“Things are going to have to go our way next week. It is only half-time and if we can get a good start next week then you never know. The manager will analyse this result and performance and by Monday he will have a plan in place to tackle them.

“We need to get the Pittodrie fans behind us to make it as intimidating as possible.

“They have very experienced players and will be used to that, but if we can get the fans behind us then it will help us take the game to them.

“Hopefully, if we can score a goal, it will give us the spring to really kick on.”

The gulf between the two clubs can be shown by their respective summer signings.

Sociedad spent nearly £8million on one-time Celtic target Alfred Finnbogason while McInnes, like every other Scottish boss, has had to wheel and deal in the free transfer and loan market.